Summary
- Matthew Gray Gubler's directing on Criminal Minds showcased his talent both in front of and behind the camera.
- Gubler's episodes played on fear and phobias, making them some of the best-directed and chilling of the series.
- While Gubler hasn't returned for the Criminal Minds reboot, fans still hold out hope for his return on screen and as a director.
There are several Criminal Minds episodes directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, and each shows just how integral he was to the series. Gubler's Spencer Reid, the brilliant yet conflicted member of the BAU team, was a fan favorite.
He was analytical, figuring out clues where none seemed possible, but also had a tortured past and a fear that his future could see him losing that great mind that led him to the team. While Spencer never returned to the Paramount+ reboot of Criminal Minds, many viewers still hold out hope he'll return — both on screen and as a director.
Why Gubler never returned for Criminal Minds: Evolution remains a mystery. He hasn't done much since Criminal Minds initially went off the air in 2020. He appeared in Horse Girl in 2020, King Knight in 2021, and seven episodes of Dollface.
However, one thing he hasn't done is work as a director, which is something he accomplished with Criminal Minds. Overall, there were 12 Criminal Minds episodes directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, and each of them gave him a chance to show his talent both in front of and behind the camera.
In this Matthew Gray Gubler-directed episode of Criminal Minds, two struggling brothers who work as rodeo clowns have resorted to looting wealthy houses as income. However, one of the brothers is secretly killing the victims of their robberies.
Gubler has a knack for playing on fear in his episodes, and in "The Capilanos," he subtly manipulates many viewer's phobia of clowns. Many people consider clowns, and particularly killer clowns, terrifying. It was one of the best-directed episodes of season 13 and showed Gubler's talent extends beyond his acting abilities.
For this investigation, the BAU is faced with the disappearance of three young children who went missing riding their bikes. They are also challenged with the mystery of the disappearance of two children thirty years ago who went missing on the same path.
This is one of the many episodes of Criminal Minds that end with a twist, revealing the children who disappeared years ago are still alive and being held captive by their kidnapper from childhood. Gubler succeeded in making this already ominous story have a particularly chilling setting, using his willingness to showcase the bizarre up front.
In "Alchemy," the team investigates the murders of two young men in the quaint area of Rapid City. The killer is a woman struggling with her past trauma of losing a child in the past and attempting to use her victims to recreate her lost child.
This was likely a challenge for Gubler. Not only was this one of the Criminal Minds episodes based on real cases and directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, but Spencer Reid was still grieving over the loss of his love interest Maeve, something that brought a lot of pressure to his character's psyche.
This murder investigation leads the team to a rural area in West Virginia. There they have to unravel the complex nature of two feuding families that seem to have an undeniable connection to the series of murders.
"Blood Relations" is one of the most uncomfortable episodes; not only is it eerie, but the storyline also shockingly incorporates the big family secret of two teenage siblings producing a child they abandoned, which led to the murders within their adult families. As with most of the Criminal Minds episodes directed by Matthew Gray Gubler, this one is creepy and extremely disturbing.
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